Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

I knew I would find something because well, I read, unlike those from organizations with ulterior agendas who don't want to face reality and will stoop to any level to misrepresent those who tell the truth. Actually, I think this organization needs to render an apology to Mr. Gore for intimating in this embarrassing press release that he lied about this but of course, I won't hold my breath.

And they even called Mr. Gore a "rabble rouser." I like it ;-). It's about time the world had some rabble rousers in it to wake and shake the people out of their slumber. It's also time to counter the spin they have been getting for years from special interests and governments beholding to corporate benefactors who refuse to understand the urgency of this crisis because their wallets come first.

Excerpt from their release:

Where are the sinking PI evacuees, Mr Gore?
Monday, 30 October 2006, 11:00 am
Press Release: New Zealand Climate Science Coalition
29 October 2006

Whereabouts in New Zealand are the sinking Pacific Island evacuees, Mr Gore?

The New Zealand Super Fund has been challenged to ask Al Gore, when he visits the country next month, for the whereabouts of the Pacific Islanders that Gore says in his film have been evacuated to New Zealand because their islands are drowning.

This challenge has been issued by the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition, through Owen McShane, chairman of its policy panel. The coalition also wants to know who is paying for the visit. The challenge follows the announcement at the Labour Party Conference that Al Gore is to visit New Zealand on 14 November for a private meeting with the Super Fund board, invited MPs and business leaders - but no media.
End of excerpt.

Here are those evacuees with some information about what is going to come if we don't face climate change seriously. Perhaps if this group doesn't believe it after reading this, they could then question the author of this piece or President Tong who delivered these remarks at the South Pacific Forum: (Bolding my emphasis.)

Rising Tide of Global Warming Threatens Pacific Island States
Posted on: Wednesday, 25 October 2006, 03:00 CDT
By Kathy Marks Asia-Pacific Correspondent

While rich nations tinker with policies that may shave their carbon dioxide emissions, low-lying South Pacific nations such as Kiribati are sinking beneath the waves.Kiribati, an archipelago of 33 coral atolls barely 6ft above sea level, is vanishing as global warming sees the oceans rise.

Yesterday, its president, Anote Tong, warned Australia and New Zealand - the two developed countries in the region - to prepare for a mass exodus within the next decade. Speaking at the annual South Pacific Forum in Fiji, Mr Tong said that rising sea levels would create countless environmental refugees. "If we are talking about our island states submerging in 10 years' time, we simply have to find somewhere else to go," he said.

Environmentalists have warned that global warming, caused by a build-up of greenhouse gases, will cause thermal expansion and a meltdown of glaciers. That could lead to seas rising by up to 23ft, and would be devastating for countries such as Bangladesh, India, Vietnam and China. In Vanuatu, an entire coastal village on the island of Tegua is being forced to move to higher ground, its huts flooded by surging seas. In Kiribati, too, a former British colony known as the Gilbert Islands, people are having to take drastic action.

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Dozens of families have been forced to move, dismantling their wooden huts piece by piece and reassembling them further back from the water. Now the population is being squeezed into an ever narrower strip of land between the lagoon and the Pacific. Environmentalists have predicted that the effects of rising sea levels will be borne disproportionately by the world's most impoverished countries, which make a negligible contribution to global warming and are least well equipped to adapt. An Australian government report this month forecast that global warming in the Asia-Pacific region could see seas rise by up to 19 inches by 2070. In one nation, Micronesia, according to the report, the sea level has risen 21.4mm every year since 2001.

It warned of a flood of refugees, pointing to increased levels of migration already from South Pacific countries. About 17,000 islanders applied for residence in New Zealand in the past two years, it said, compared with 4,000 in 2003.
End of excerpt
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President Tong's remarks at the South Pacific Forum.

It is obvious from that link and the article above it that the islands in question are already experiencing some submersion. You would think that would actually concern a group like the Climate Science Coalition, but alas, it appears their motivation here is only political as well.  

Here it is again in case you all missed it:

"About 17,000 islanders applied for residence in New Zealand in the past two years, it said, compared with 4,000 in 2003."

That from an Australian government report. Methinks instead of accusing others of not reading their site or lying, they should be reading what is going on in the world, or at least in their own country.

And I also wanted to answer this claim made in their press release, because again, it seems clearly political in motivation:

Excerpt from their press release:

"In view of the announcement at the Labour Party conference and the linkage with the Super Fund, New Zealanders are entitled to know just who is meeting the cost of bringing to New Zealand a rabble rouser who has admitted to being liberal with the truth," said Mr McShane. The Super Fund should be asked to explain how it can have faith in a man like Gore who made the following admission in an interview in the United States with David Roberts of Grist magazine (9 May 2006):

"Nobody is interested in solutions if they don't think there's a problem. Given that starting point, I believe it is appropriate to have an over-representation of factual presentations on how dangerous (global warming) is, as a predicate for opening up the audience to listen to what the solutions are, and how hopeful it is that we are going to solve this crisis."

"How much `over-representation' can we expect from Mr Gore in New Zealand? He has been liberal with the truth about Pacific Islanders being evacuated to New Zealand because their islands are sinking; he has ignored the fact that Antartica is accumulating ice; and he still promotes the "hockey stick" curve that has been unmasked as scientific fraud; just how much else of his film and claims on global warming can we believe?" asked Mr McShane. "It's a pity that the Super Fund, and the Labour Party leaders who are promoting the Gore film, did not first check out the critical comments that appear on our coalition's website.
End of excerpt.

According to this article, Mr. Gore is not being paid one penny by the Fund nor Auckland University. More information they could have looked for instead of using this visit by Mr. Gore as a clear partisan political attack.

Al Gore to star at Kiwi Summit
29 October 2006
By GREG MEYLAN

Former US vice-president Al Gore will visit Auckland next month to tell key business leaders and politicians in a closed meeting that they must act now to avert climate change catastrophe.

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Gore will jet in on November 14 for half a day en route to Australia to promote the message of his widely acclaimed film An Inconvenient Truth, which lays out evidence for the potentially devastating effects of man-made climate change.
 The Super Fund, which manages billions of dollars of public money set aside to help fund baby boomers' pensions, invited Gore in his role as chair of UK-based company Generation Investment Management which invests in companies that take into account issues such as climate change and sustainable development.

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Neither the Super Fund nor Business School is paying Gore for the visit.

Bill Clinton, to whom Gore was vice-president for eight years, charged $1694 a ticket for a talk in Auckland this year.

As for the rest of their redundant points they aren't even worth responding to, as Mr. Gore and other climate scientists have and can do a much better job of refuting their redundancy on this.

However, just to clear this up for them, I believe what Al Gore meant by having an "over representation,"  means that for those like them who absolutely refuse to even see the urgency of this and that humans are causing it, they need more facts presented to them than the normal amount of information those who have open minds need. Again, not hard to figure out if you don't have a partisan political agenda.

In closing this I just wanted to also mention this: Mr. Gore is traveling on behalf of our planet because he believes that as a species we must come to terms with the danger we face with hope that we can mitigate it. Especially in light of the fact that the poor in this world, including the inhabitants of the Pacific Islands who are feeling its effects now will reap the worst of the repercussions if we do not join together as human beings free of partisanship to deal with it.

It is a message that transcends politics and factionalized bickering, and the sooner those who are using this for their own political agenda see that the sooner we can begin to heal this world for generations to come. Perhaps one day organizations like the Climate Science Coalition will see that... hopefully before it is too late.